This was my 15th time traveling to the Munich show, and this year my lovely wife joined me (her 3rd time).
For many years I was entering almost every room and tried to listen to everything I could.
at the MOC and the HFD. That was when I was "just" an end customer.
But in the last few years post covid mainely, I have been traveling mostly for vacation with friends and to meet some ppl around the world that I'm friends with on the basis of our hobbies. and mainly to meet our joint manufacturer that we work with.
to take things lightly first of all - i'm a Business affiliation to High end audio located in Israel so, take it as you will. I will disclose the brands I keep (brand list*) to maintain your comments to minimum
First, those attending shows, not just Munich, know that. and shows are just that.
As others commented earlier, I would not slice and dice my end decision upon listening to a system, speakers, or other equipment during shows. There are so many variables and time restrictions (not to mention noise and interference) that it's just not possible to get the right choice. You can hear potential, you can listen to ppl talking, you can ask questions and see stuff that a lot of us see only in magazines and take it to your bed at night.
We know how difficult it is to set up and end up with a stereo system that we like for a long time in our own houses, so every manufacturer with numerous difficulties and variables to set up a proper system that will sound ok and up is amazing on its own.
meetings and more
It was a real pleasure for us to meet Arthur and Dominika from Arya audio (brand list)
and see some of their future exploration in the audio realm, they are the most cute and smart ppl we met. absolutely joy. We sat for two hours and just talked about everything.
We also went to meet our good friend from J.sikora in their rooms, J.sikora is one of the best analog brands today and you could see their stuff in 4-5 rooms this year. congrats to them!
Avalon (a speaker's project from fono acustica cables) had a great room with Goldmund electronics. the nicest guys ever from spain. We love them very much. and we keep FA cables. The new speaker filled the room but was a bit harsh on the highs for our taste. I need to listen to it in a proper location to establish this beauty of s speaker.
ALSYVOX with Pilium, Taiko and one from our brand list -VYDA lab cables - was a very good room, lacking some bottom end to our taste but the clarity and crispness of music was enchanting! Those guys were Very nice indeed, all of them! great room to spend time in and talking to manufacturers.
Boenicke (brand list) one of the Best rooms ever, almost the same as last year but better
the W22 is an amazing speaker and Sven is absolutely one of the greatest designers in this industry in my opinion.
Zelaton and YS were very very good. not my cup of tea usually but i know some of their speakers very well and they succeeded to impress this year! very good company and i will take it over wilson every day of the week.
Stenhiam with Dartzeel in "anna Mighty" room with csport and this year with R2R tape from French and also Mr SABAG on the saxophone were incredible also.
real music, real ppl, real shows!
We spent hours in this room several times. drinks, talking, listening to a lot of music!
very very good presentation and a great VIBE room.
Aries Cerat - (brand list) - i have a full system of AC in my demo room excluding speakers. I LOVE stavros and everything he is making. I think he is the number one manufacturer today. that said. His room was not on par with what you can achieve with the same system in a proper room and set up. I visited Stavros in Cyprus a month ago and listened to the same system in his own demo room for 3 days and could not leave it for a second. this thing plays like nothing on this earth. enough said, we've been there already.
HFD
We spend all Saturday and half of our Sunday in HFD mainely because of two people that we dearly love.
Florian from Clarisys (brand list) that became our best friend in the world. and we wanted to spend time with him and his family. We also had the honor to meet for the first time ever, Ken Stevens from CAT. was a real pleasure.
The clarisys room was great especially when the little new Piccolo played. Their "living room" 6x6x3 was difficult to figure sound wise, but the Piccolo played wonder! CAT monoblocks were excellent and you could spend hours there to have fun with the greatest ppl. Clarisys Audio is our main speaker in our demo room and we get the Auditorium for the full experience. But, the Piccolo was surprisingly almost perfect!
The other man (and crew) we headed to meet there and spend time with is ALEX from
"RAAL 1995" (brand list) and his friends from Serbia. all of them manufacturers from Serbia who got to the HFD show and had a room that was the Best you can hear in headphones world. SAEQ, SOLAJA AUDIO , AURIS etc.
Diasis audio - was a VERY good room, with enormous sound and beautiful music playing. Also a great great guy.
audio nostrum - we heard the Saturn and it was a really good, clear crisp sound which filled the room effortlessly. We spoke a bit with the designer, and looked at his beautiful speaker and finish. 80'000eu is not cheap for a "no name" company but those were amazing looking beyond a lot of speakers that you can see in those shows.
hi five for them!
FM AUDIO - as usual a very big room, very esthetics and great product display but nothing engaging when we visit, i heard a lot better from them over the past years.
i saved the best for last -
my Best room in the show goes to "Destination audio" with Lampizator this year.
this brand from Poland that I just saw a glimpse of on the internet was shockingly good.
I never got the chance to hear or know them.
we entered the room and immediately fell in LOVE. those "Nika" speakers from D.A and their GM70 dual chassis integrated amp just floored us along with Lukasz dac. with absolutely wonderful tone and music capability. We were there in their room - in and out.
The room seems almost "sad" with almost no equipment like the others, but a true system. a source, amp and speakers! that just plays music. no sales guys, no interruptions! no banners no shit. (excuse my french)
That room was a real treat and we just Loved it the MOST.
there was a lot more good, bad and wonderful all around, but for us it is always about the People and music. electronics and speakers are just wood and metal.
peace and love fro
www.monoandstereo.com
www.matterhornaudio.com
